Moses reached for Pharaoh's crown because he was three years old and did not yet know fear.
Landa's 1919 retelling takes a famous midrashic moment and makes the danger immediate. Pharaoh has already ordered Hebrew boys drowned. His daughter, Bathia, has pulled one living child from the Nile and raised him in the palace. At Moses' birthday feast, the child climbs into the king's lap, pulls at his beard, and places the royal crown on his own head.
The room freezes. Bilam, Pharaoh's chief magician, sees a sign. This is no game, he says. The Hebrew child is reaching for the throne. Reuel argues the opposite. A child does not know what a crown means. Test him.
They place two dishes before Moses. One holds gold and jewels. The other holds burning coals. If he chooses treasure, he understands power and must die. If he reaches for fire, he is only a child.
Bathia is told to wish for the coal. Moses thrusts his hand into the fire, lifts a glowing ember, and puts it in his mouth. The child lives, but his tongue is burned. Years later, when God sends him back to Egypt, Moses will say, "I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue" (Exodus 4:10).
The same court that tried to destroy him accidentally explains the wound he will carry into prophecy.
The Water-Babe
Floating in a basket on the River Nile, Princess Bathia, the daughter
of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, found a tiny little water-babe. Princess
Bathia was a widow and had no children, and she was so delighted that
she took the child home to the palace and brought it up as her own.
She called the babe Moses.
He was a pretty little boy, full of fun and frolic as he grew up, and
he became a favorite with everybody in the palace. Even the cruel King
Pharaoh, who had ordered that all the Hebrew boy babes should be
drowned, loved to play with him. His ministers of state and magicians,
however, frowned when they saw Moses, as soon as he could toddle and
talk, making a play-mate of the king. They warned Pharaoh that it was
dangerous to give a strange child such privileges, but Princess Bathia
only laughed at them. So did her mother, the queen, and King Pharaoh
took no notice.
When Moses was three years old, Princess Bathia gave a birthday party
in his honor. It was really a big banquet and was attended by the king
and queen and all the courtiers. Moses was seated at the head of the
table and his eyes opened very wide with wonderment at everything he
saw. It seemed such a ridiculous lot of solemn fuss to him. He would
rather have played on the floor, or climbed on to the table, but of
course they would not allow him.
"What does all this mean?" he asked of the king who was seated next to
him. "Tell me," and he playfully pulled King Pharaoh's beard.
The courtiers looked on horrified, and Bilam, the chief magician,
cried out, "Beware, O king, this is not play."
"Heed not these words, my father," said the princess. "Bilam is ever
warning thee. If thou wert to take notice of all that he says, thou
wouldst not have a moment's peace. Take our little babe on thy knee
and play with him."
To please the princess, King Pharaoh did so, and Moses amused himself
by playing with the glittering jewels on his majesty's robes. Then he
looked up and stared hard at the king's head.
"What is that?" he asked, pointing.
"That is the royal crown," answered Pharaoh.
"No it is not; it is only a funny hat," replied Moses.
"Beware," chimed in Bilam, solemnly.
"Let me put the hat on," said Moses, reaching up his little hands, and
before they could stop him, he had taken the crown from the king's
head and had put it on his own.
Princess Bathia and the queen laughed merrily, but Bilam looked very
grave.
"Your majesty," he said, in a voice trembling with passion, "this is
not the foolish play of a babe. This child, remember, is not as other
children. Came he not from the river? There is meaning in his action.
Already does he seek to rob thee of thy royal crown. 'Tis a portent of
evil."
Pharaoh thoughtfully stroked his beard.
"What sayeth Reuel?" he asked, turning to his second chief magician.
"I say the child is but a babe and that this action means nothing,"
answered Reuel.
The queen and the princess agreed with Reuel, who was their favorite,
but Bilam would not allow the matter to pass lightly.
"I, Bilam, am chief of thy counselors," he said, "and deeply learned
in the mysteries of signs and portents. There is a meaning in all
things. Remember, O King, this child is of the Hebrews, and escaped
thy decree. This play of his hath a meaning. Should he be permitted to
grow up, he will rebel against thee and seek to destroy thy rule. Let
him be judged, O king."
"Thy words are wise," said Pharaoh, who was himself annoyed with
Moses, and he ordered three judges to try the child for his offence.
Moses thought it was a new game and he clapped his hands gleefully
when they took him to the court of justice and stood him in front of
the judges. He heard Reuel plead on his behalf, but he did not
understand it.
"I say he is but a babe and does things without meaning," Reuel
exclaimed. "Put him to the test, and see if he knows the difference
between fire and gold. Place before him a dish of fire and a dish of
jewels and gold. If he grasps the jewels, it will prove that he is no
ordinary child; if he places his hand to the fire, then shall we be
assured he is merely a foolish babe."
"So be it," said Bilam, "and if he grasps the jewels let his
punishment be instant death."
Pharaoh and the judges agreed, and two dishes, one containing burning
coals and the other gold and precious stones were brought in and
placed before Moses. Everybody looked on keenly as Moses stared at
the dishes. Princess Bathia made signs to him, but Bilam ordered her
to cease and it was Reuel who comforted her and dried her tears.
"Take my magic staff," he said, handing to her a stick that seemed to
be made of one large precious stone. "This was given to Adam when he
left the Garden of Eden and has been handed down to me through Enoch
and Noah, through Abraham and Jacob unto Joseph who left it in my
keeping. Take the staff and Moses will obey whatsoever be thy wish."
The princess took the staff and pressed it to her lips.
"I wish," she said, "that my little water-babe shall seize the burning
coals."
Moses thrust his fingers into the fire and pulled out a glowing coal.
With a cry, he put his fingers in his mouth to ease the pain and
burned his tongue with the coal. Ever afterward he lisped.
The princess snatched Moses and pressed him tightly to her bosom.
"Give me the magic stick," she said to Reuel, "so that I may guard and
protect the child."
"Canst thou read this word?" asked Reuel, pointing to a word engraved
on the staff.
"No," said the princess.
"Then it cannot be thine," answered Reuel. "Whosoever reads this name
can understand all things, even the thoughts of animals and birds.
Fear not for Moses. In years to come this staff shall be his."
And so it came to pass. Years afterward, when Moses was a man and fled
from Egypt, he married a daughter of Reuel who became a Hebrew and
took the name of Jethro. Reuel planted the staff in his garden and
Moses saw it. He read the magic word, and touching the staff it came
out of the ground into his hands. With this staff Moses performed the
wonderful things in Egypt when he delivered the children of Israel
from bondage, as is related in the Bible.
